My book is a compilation of various voices of retirees from the food business. The text was sourced and excerpted from the book: "No One Eats Alone: Food as a Social Enterprise" by Michael Carolan. My book is hardcover as it is intended to be a quick read in the library or exhibited at places like Artprim. I wanted to stay away from making something too disposable looking because based on my experiences as a Graphic Designer, I find that often these things end up in the recycling all too fast. As something that is more valuable looking, this sort of book works well as a quick read on a book shelf of a coffee shop or library.
I found that there was a need to make the style old fashioned as a lot of the voices refer to the time when processed food was developed. Processed food was a phenomenon onset by industrialization in the early 1900s however, it wasn't until 1950s with the emergence of new "helping hand" kitchen appliances that the idea of companies cooking for you emerged. Which is why I choose to make my book reference a old fashioned advertisement style while also using contemporary color choices. My book therefore, references both old and new as changes in food and the way we think of food is now a contemporary problem.
The relation to polyphony lies in the various voices in the book but also in the way that they are overlaid by subliminal ads that were inspired by real ads from the 1950s; the real tipping point in time where we diverged from home cooked meals to company made meals. I also added in my own questions at the beginning of the book as I found myself questioning my food habits as I read through the original text.
I wanted to create a pop-up book because I wanted to visual tie to themes of commercialism, marketing and consumerism and what better way to do that then to inspire your layout from coupons and store signs. I also choose to make the voices anonymous since the original text did not disclose much about who the people where or who they worked for.
Aside from gluing my cover on upside down which caused the glue to bubble a bit, I found producing the book fairly easy. After the feedback I was given from the class, I would certainly make some changes to my book. However, overall I am very happy with what I produced.
My grandfather passed away the first week into the project, so I got a little behind in my process work for the past few weeks as I was grieving and traveling between Montreal and Ottawa to be with family. However, in the past two weeks, I have managed to pull through and I catch up. I am supper happy that I am all caught up now and was able to hand-in my book on time.
